A Story About Kenya

Basecamp Explorer Kenya has been shortlisted among three finalists for The Tourism for Tomorrow Awards 2014, Community Award Category. This development comes just a few months after one of the tourism company’s subsidiary, Eagle View, Mara Naboisho, was selected as one of the 25 Best Eco Lodges in the World by National Geographic Traveler Magazine and also awarded a Silver Eco Rating by Ecotourism Kenya.

Organized by The World Travel and Tourism Council Tourism (WTTC) since 2004, Tourism for Tomorrow Awards is regarded as one of the world’s most prestigious accolades in the Travel & Tourism industry. The annual award aims at recognizing best practices in sustainable tourism globally and culminates at an award ceremony during the world’s highest profile meeting for the travel and tourism industry, The WTTC Global Summit.

What is Tourism For Tomorrow?

According to the WTTC, Tourism for Tomorrow is Travel & Tourism which while growing impacts natural and cultural heritage in a positive way, provides social and economic benefits to all sectors of society, in particular for young people, women, and indigenous communities, attracts and develops a skilled workforce, providing fair wages and benefits, to support growing demand, stimulates consumer interest in sustainable tourism practices and uses latest technology to find innovative solutions to future challenges.

How The Awards Work.

Every year the WTTC invite destinations, businesses and projects for applications with the result being hundreds of unique applicants. Candidates can apply in one of the following six Award Categories: Destination Award, Environment Award, Community Award, Business Award, People Award and Innovation Award. Upon receipt of all applications the judging process begins. Successful applicants then go through a rigorous three-step process that includes selecting finalists, site visits and selecting the winners. An international team of 18-20 judges, representing a wide range of professional backgrounds and expertise in the Travel & Tourism industry, decide on the winners after shortlisting three finalists in each category.

Community Awards Category

Community Award, Tourism For Tomorrow

The shortlisting of Basecamp Explorer Kenya among the 3 finalists for the Community Awards Category underpins the company’s commitment to environmentally responsible operations and the improvement of the well-being of the local communities as the award seeks to recognize companies and organizations that are committed to sustainable tourism leadership in local community development, empowerment and cultural heritage. Some of the key values that candidates for the Community Award Category should demonstrate include:

A commitment to capacity building for Travel & Tourism in destination areas including fair wages, opportunities for local community input and empowerment on tourism development planning, as well as training and education opportunities that result in economic and social benefits for local communities, including career advancement.

How community benefit is linked to the wider principles of ‘Tourism for Tomorrow’ (as defined above).

Leadership in the region or internationally, through active engagement with the media and wider tourism community to promote and encourage best practice.

Genuine support from the community for initiatives.

Winners will be announced at a glamorous Awards ceremony that will be held during WTTC’s Global Summit from 24th-25th April 2014 in Hainan Province China.

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10 Comments

I enjoy writing about “sustainable living” weekly in my blog, but I never thought about ecotourism. I especially was interested in the emphasis on” young people, women, and indigenous communities”. I am happy I found your blog and will be exploring further.

Thanks Alana for reading our blog. To me ecotourism is a way of life and encompasses sustainability in all aspects. I will check out your blog. We just might be speaking about the same thing in different ways.

This concept of sustainsbility reminds me of the last unit in campus where we were learning about sustainable tourism and it had three aspects:ecomomic,enviromental and socio-cultural sustainability normally reffered to as (the triple bottom line).am glad we have good ambassadors of sustainability here.Kudos.

Many thanks Billy for highlighting the Tourism For Tomorrow Awards on your blog. We have our fingers crossed and hoping for the best. Eco Tourism is indeed the way for the future and all efforts should be towards conserving our environment and supporting the local communities in the areas we operate in.